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Bodega, an 'unmanned pantry box,' has already become America's most hated start-up
Source: Washington Post
Bodega, an ‘unmanned pantry box,’ has already become America’s most hated start-up
By Maura Judkis September 13 at 1:31 PM
Here’s the pitch for Silicon Valley’s newest start-up: It’s called Bodega, and it’s a case of nonperishable goods — the kind you’d usually get at a neighborhood corner store or bodega — that comes in an “unmanned pantry box.” It looks like this:
The company was founded by two former Google employees, Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan. Customers can unlock the box and purchase products via an app. It brings products “to where people already are so that they can access them immediately, when they need them. This beats out any two-hour delivery — or even half-hour delivery — alternative,” McDonald told Fast Company. It could make corner stores obsolete.
If you’re keeping up, you may have already identified the major problems here; the reasons people on Twitter were practically foaming at the mouth with fury at the announcement of this visionary new company. Let’s parse them, shall we?
Number one: What the hell is an “unmanned pantry box?” IT’S A HIGHFALUTIN’ VENDING MACHINE. Congratulations, you just tricked people into giving you millions in venture capital for a vending machine. At best, this is a new Juicero — a product that sounds great on paper, but is completely unnecessary in real life, because a better or easier version of it already exists.
-snip-
By Maura Judkis September 13 at 1:31 PM
Here’s the pitch for Silicon Valley’s newest start-up: It’s called Bodega, and it’s a case of nonperishable goods — the kind you’d usually get at a neighborhood corner store or bodega — that comes in an “unmanned pantry box.” It looks like this:
The company was founded by two former Google employees, Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan. Customers can unlock the box and purchase products via an app. It brings products “to where people already are so that they can access them immediately, when they need them. This beats out any two-hour delivery — or even half-hour delivery — alternative,” McDonald told Fast Company. It could make corner stores obsolete.
If you’re keeping up, you may have already identified the major problems here; the reasons people on Twitter were practically foaming at the mouth with fury at the announcement of this visionary new company. Let’s parse them, shall we?
Number one: What the hell is an “unmanned pantry box?” IT’S A HIGHFALUTIN’ VENDING MACHINE. Congratulations, you just tricked people into giving you millions in venture capital for a vending machine. At best, this is a new Juicero — a product that sounds great on paper, but is completely unnecessary in real life, because a better or easier version of it already exists.
Link to tweet
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/09/13/bodega-an-unmanned-pantry-box-has-already-become-americas-most-hated-start-up/
3 replies
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